Vintage instruments from Danbury have starring role

Deb Keiser

Updated 3:40 pm, Saturday, January 5, 2013

Russ Mumma owns the Music Guild on Main Street in Danbury. Here he holds one of the vintage instruments, a 1958 Gretsch guitar, that was used in the film "Not Fade Away" which opened Friday, Dec. 21, 2012.
Photo: Lisa Weir

Russ Mumma owns the Music Guild on Main Street in Danbury. Here he...

Russ Mumma owns the Music Guild on Main Street in Danbury. Here he holds one of the vintage instruments, a 1958 Gretsch guitar, that was used in the film "Not Fade Away" which opened Friday, Dec. 21, 2012.
Photo: Lisa Weir

Russ Mumma owns the Music Guild on Main Street in Danbury. Here he...

Russ Mumma owns the Music Guild on Main Street in Danbury. Here he holds one of the vintage instruments, a 1958 Gretsch guitar, that was used in the film "Not Fade Away" which opened Friday, Dec. 21, 2012.
Photo: Lisa Weir

"Not Fade Away," touted by Rolling Stone magazine as a love letter to rock 'n' roll, is in theaters across the nation. Set in New Jersey in the '60s, the heyday of rock, it gives little clue to its connection to a plain, three-story brick building on Main Street in Danbury, or to the man who has owned the music shop there for 46 years -- Russ Mumma.

Produced by Steve Van Zandt of the E Street Band, "Not Fade Away" stars James Gandolfini. The movie's authenticity, which Van Zandt is said to have demanded, comes in part from the instruments used, and they belong to Mumma's Music Guild at 276 Main.

The shop is packed wall-to-wall with guitars, violins, drums, mandolins, horns of all kinds -- just about any instrument you could name, and many you could not.

Mumma, a lifelong musician, proudly owns the full-service store, where he offers lessons, rentals, repairs and sales of new and vintage instruments.

It's the old instruments that made it to the big screen. Although the shop is not a museum, Mumma, in his low-key way, said he's probably the largest vintage instrument dealer in Connecticut. He gets them -- iconic Gretsch, Gibson and Fender guitars, old Slingerland and Ludwig drum kits and other gems -- through trade-ins, purchases and auctions.

Mumma spoke about his instruments' involvement in the movie during an interview just prior to its recent opening.

Q: You don't seem surprised to have your instruments in this film.

A: Well, I wasn't that surprised. I've been doing this for decades, and I was happy to accommodate. They know me in the field, and many people have come to me for props for album covers, CDs, magazines, whatever they need. I've done some TV stuff, and a few other movies, but nothing this big, so I'm pretty happy.

Q: How did they contact you? Did you meet Steve Van Zandt?

A: A rep for Paramount Films called me on the phone, but no, it was not Steve, though I have had plenty of stars in here.

A: A teenager from New Jersey who gets a band together. It's about the music and the dynamics of growing up in the '60s, when rock was everything. I expect it to be a good film.

Q: How many of your instruments were used in the movie?

A: Well, it wasn't just that they used all the instruments to play them; they also needed them as props, so close to a hundred, I would say. In the development of the film, they needed more and more. They kept coming back, and the list got longer and longer.

Q: Why is that?

A: In the movie, they recreated a legendary music store in New York City called Manny's on 48th Street, and they needed to fill the set with period instruments. Manny's was the place everybody went to in the day. Every star in the music world shopped there.

Q: Will we see your name in the credits?

A: I don't think so, no. That was not really too important to me.

Q: Did you get compensated?

A: Sure, and considering all the time that went into it, it was a fair exchange. It took months of work.

Q: Why didn't they shoot it using your store?

A: The logistics, it was too far away. I believe a lot of it was shot somewhere in New York state. And to make my store look like Manny's, they would have had to take it apart. It wouldn't have been worth it.

Q: What's the interest in the old instruments?

A: Aside from authenticity, the older instruments were manufactured differently. The process was more hand-made; the woods were older, like an old violin. There's something to be said for wood being aged. The patina and feel of the instrument after it's played for decades is something special.

Q: The guitar is your instrument. Do you still play?

A: Yes, but not out. I taught for many years, too. It was a passion, and I am proud of my students. I don't want to brag, but many have gone on to fame and fortune in the music world, and that makes me very happy, too.